The Scrub Room
by SunshineandSparkles
Summary: There's a new surgeon walking the halls of the hospital but she's so quiet you're likely to miss her. The only chance any of her colleagues get a chance to talk to her is in the scrub room before and/or after surgery. [[Short chapters, written to be easy reading. Takes place after Cristina leaves.]]
1. The Chief

**The Chief**

**Author's Notes: **This is the second time I've written for Grey's Anatomy. This story will be a series of chapters comprising of short scenes, all taking place in the scrub room before and/or after surgeries. The story takes place after the S10 finale when Cristina leaves and will feature most characters on the show in some way. The OC is made up character, Dr. Crystal Gibbons, cardio surgeon that mostly just loves traumas.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy

She scrubbed her hands longer than normal, lost in thought about how her first day at Grey Sloan was going. It wasn't until the door opened to the scrub room that she was aware of how sudsy and nearly raw her hands and arms were.

"Dr. Gibbons." Crystal's head popped up and swiveled to look at the red headed doctor beside her.

"Hello, Chief." Crystal offered a smile that didn't reach past her surgical mask before she returned to her hands as she finally ran them through the water to rinse the suds off.

He laughed. "Don't call me that." He said gently.

"I'm sorry?" Crystal stood between the other doctor and the door leading into the operating room.

He continued to scrub as he spoke to her. "Newbie mistake number one: no one really calls me Chief. It's just Owen or Dr. Hunt if you want formality." He explained to her.

Crystal nodded her head though Owen couldn't actually see her. She waited until he was standing upright again facing her before she asked. "So, if no one calls _you_ Chief, why is that?" She questioned. In her years of bouncing between hospitals and medical centers as a student and a surgeon she had never met someone who had the title 'Chief' but refused to be called by it.

Owen was smiling at her behind his mask. "You haven't met Richard Webber yet, have you?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Richard Webber? No, I haven't met him, but I know he's a great surgeon. What does he have to do with this?" They were both toweling their hands off now.

"He was the Chief. He _is_ the Chief." Owen said simply.

Crystal nodded her head as she followed Owen through the door. She understood now. "He still barks and people still jump."

Owen couldn't help but laugh at the all too accurate description. "Pretty much."


	2. A Rabid Resident

**A Rabid Resident**

**Author's Notes: **For some reason I was nervous to write Jo, but I think it turned out all right. I felt like since Crystal is the new surgeon on the block that someone needed to test her and I thought that Jo would have _definitely_ done such a thing.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

It was only day three of being in a new hospital and Crystal's patience with a certain student was starting wear thin. Normally it took weeks for her to get to this point, the point of wanting to rip her long red locks from her head.

Crystal had thought she had been clear when she gave Jo Wilson a definite 'no' but apparently she hadn't or Wilson wasn't going to stop badgering her about it until the answer was changed to something more favorable because she had followed Crystal into the scrub room. She listened to her student, the one she was supposed to be teaching and not ignoring, as she rambled on and on about how she believed she deserved to be scrubbing in on the surgery. The words were going in one ear and out the other.

Before she even put her surgical mask over her mouth, Crystal turned to face Wilson and crossed her arms in front of her. "Enough." Crystal said. Her voice wasn't very loud, but it was strong like she was giving orders in a chaotic pit.

Wilson continued talking, briefly for a few moments before she realized that Crystal was waiting for her to shut up. "Yes?" She asked with wide eyes that Crystal wanted to slap out of the resident's head because she _see_ the attitude in them as they looked directly at her. _That's_ how little patience she had.

"I'm going to say this one more time. I hope you're listening because I will _not_ say it again and I will _not_ put up with your badgering any longer." Crystal's voice was soft, like it always was when she was conversing. Rarely did she ever raise her voice and when she did she became a completely different person. She spoke her next words very clearly and paused between each word, putting emphasis on her final and resolute answer she had been saying for the last two days. "You. Are. Not. Scrubbing. In."

Wilson glared at Crystal, something that Crystal was sure she would get used to because this was definitely not going to be their only issue. Finally the resident spoke. "What_ever_." And with that she turned on her heel and slammed her way back to the hallway.

Crystal exhaled deeply as she placed her hands on the edge of the sink, propping herself up as she let her head hang allowing her eyes stare at the old shoes she knew she needed to replace.

The door opened and Crystal didn't move. She could tell by the shoes that joined beside her that it was Derek. "I've had persistent students before but that crosses the line." Crystal spoke as she picked herself up. Derek watched as she pulled her mask up and tied it.

"You know, it's only day three." He reminded her.

She merely shook her head. "Don't remind me." She replied.

"If it helps any, I still have to fight the rabid residents off every once in a while." He turned to look at her again. "I just wish I had your patience and calmness to do it."

Again, Crystal just shook her head at Derek. He had _no_ idea.


	3. The Problem With Sleep

**The Problem With Sleep**

**Author's Notes: **I have several chapters written, I'm just spacing them out a bit…unless anyone wants me to post them _as_ I write them. Let me know, because I have a few hidden away ready to be uploaded.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

48 hours had passed since Crystal had last stepped outside of the walls of the hospital. It didn't bother her, she was a surgeon after all. A surgeon who lived off of the adrenaline rush that came with a scalpel in hand and making the tough calls. She was used to the endless hours in a hospital, she knew what she had signed up for when she first decided on becoming a surgeon and that meant sometimes terrible cafeteria food, overpriced snacks from a vending machine and never a full night's sleep in an on call room.

So there she was, entering the scrub room for another surgery. This particular one was a surgery on a middle aged woman who was supposed to have already been on her recovery path by this time of the day. Her surgery had ended up pushed back with a trauma and a few other emergencies that came Crystal's way. Now she was making sure her patient was getting her full attention because it had been hours since she had initially been scheduled for surgery and the last thing Crystal wanted was complaints the next morning from the woman who couldn't eat bacon at breakfast because she was scheduled for surgery, _again. _

The door swung open and Crystal found Owen standing before her. "Oh dear." She sighed, remembering their conversation hours earlier when he explicitly told her that she needed to go _home_ and sleep instead of hiding out in an on call room.

"Your name was on the board." He stated, shrugging his shoulders. For some reason something told him to check the OR board before heading to do the never ending paperwork. Sure enough, Crystal's name had been placed on the board, again. "So, here's the deal. Because I know you've had to put this surgery on hold all day, I'll let you scrub in. _But_ as soon as you finish post op exam I want you out of this hospital."

It was a fair trade, but she would have rather not have to be told what to do like she was a resident. Crystal nodded her head. "All right." She conceded.

Owen nodded his head a few times. He caught her eyes for a moment. "You still haven't found a place yet, have you?" He asked. The few days that Crystal had been in Seattle he, and everyone else, had found that she wasn't a very talkative person. She wasn't shy, she just didn't talk much. Owen had figured out when she was thinking about something troubling.

Crystal suddenly found her fingernails interesting. "No. Not yet." She replied. A sigh escaped her mouth. "It's even worse because I can't stand the hotel beds I've been sleeping in." She added on. Owen could sense that she was irritated with the situation though she appeared as calm as she always appeared to be.

"Plural? How many hotels have you stayed at?" He inquired, curious to know.

She looked up from her hands. "You're going to laugh, and that's completely fine. It is a bit ridiculous." She told him with a small smile. "12 hotels, and a rundown motel on the east side that was probably the scene of a murder last month." The scrub room filled with the sound of Owen's laughter.


	4. Girls' Night In

**Girls' Night In**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy

Two hours later they were emerging from surgery. Things had been rough but like the great surgeons that they were, they rose to meet the challenge and came out on the other side with good results. "I cannot wait to crawl into bed." Meredith sighed. She had worked the night shift the previous night with Crystal and had very little sleep to run on. The mother and surgeon prayed that her two kids wouldn't be too fussy when they got home and would fall asleep soon.

"You're not going to fall asleep in the sink, are you Grey?" Callie asked, slightly concerned. Crystal smiled at the remark and took the sink at the end by Callie.

"At least she wouldn't need to spend time taking a shower when she gets home." Crystal pointed out.

Meredith rolled her eyes as she joined the other two women at the sink. "I need alcohol too." She decided when she remembered that Derek was going to be home when she arrived. They still weren't on talking terms yet.

"I wouldn't oppose to a beer." Crystal spoke into the sink.

The door to the scrub room opened revealing Arizona and Sophia. "Please tell me you found someone to take your night shift." She spoke directly to Callie, either ignoring that Crystal and Meredith were there or simply not caring at the moment.

Callie stepped back from the sinks and grabbed a towel. "No, I didn't." She said slowly. Her eyes were on Sophia now and she was smiling at her daughter. "Why?" She asked tossing the towel into the medical waste.

Arizona flung her head back and stared at the ceiling. "Dang." The blonde huffed. "I'm going to have to stay late tonight and do Andy's surgery. He's not stable enough to wait until the morning. Sophia has a temperature and they won't let her stay upstairs." Arizona explained as she brought her head back to look at Callie.

Sophia had gone to Callie's side and was slightly annoyed as Callie started to run her hand across her child's face. The girl had already been subject to Arizona's worry on the elevator ride. "It doesn't seem too bad." Callie commented but she knew that without proper rest and hydration whatever was making Sophia sick was only going to get worse. She squatted down to Sophia's level and peered into her eyes. "Do you feel icky?" She asked. Sophia nodded her head.

"I checked, it wasn't but a few degrees up but you know how the policies are." Arizona said shrugging her shoulders. She was all for the policies, it kept sick kids from spreading their sickness to others. But it was just a super inconvenient time for _their _daughter to get sick.

Crystal was about ready to leave to go talk to their patient's family when she made her decision. "I'll take her." Callie stood up and both her and Arizona turned their attention to Crystal. "What? I'm a capable babysitter. I'm a _doctor_." She pointed out. It was a bonus that Sophia no longer needed diaper changes.

Meredith butted in. "Yeah, she's more than capable." She was standing directly behind Crystal now. "You know what? I think I'll join her. Derek's already home and we're not speaking to each other. He's probably already got the kids in bed. We'll just have a girls' night in and snuggle and watch Toy Story." Besides, it'd give her time to get to know Crystal a little bit more.

Callie and Arizona looked at each other for a few moments, each reading each other's faces. "Okay." They said together.


	5. The Idiot With The Food

**The Idiot with the Food**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

"Hey!" Alex shouted as the door swung shut. He kicked it open with his foot. "What the hell? Couldn't you see I was carrying stuff?" He asked Crystal.

She turned to look at him and only rolled her eyes. "You're bringing food into the scrub room?" She looked over the top of her glasses at her coworker. "You're an idiot." She laughed.

It was Alex's turn to roll his eyes. "Apparently, I'm an idiot that looks out for people." He placed the tray from the cafeteria on the top of the lid to the medical waste basket. "Hunt said you probably hadn't eaten yet and I heard from someone on the grapevine that you get sorta bitchy when you get really hungry." Swiftly he uncovered a club sandwich and a small salad before he turned to look at her again. "The women around here are already enough crazy. You're the most noncrazy one of them all. I want to keep it that way."

Crystal started to laugh. News moved quickly at Grey Sloan and Alex was right. She did get uptight and a little bitchy when she got hungry. The funny thing was that she had heard that Alex could be an ass but here was being nice. For some reason everything came together and made her laugh.

"See! You're getting crazy. Knock it off, start eating." He urged her.

Nodding her head she reached her hands out for food. "Dessert first. Always dessert first." She told him.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Seriously?"

"Hey, don't ever deny a woman dessert when they ask for it. They might go _crazy._" Alex just rolled his eyes and diligently handed her the napkin with cookies hidden inside.


	6. Arizona And The Housewarming Party

**Housewarming Party Woes**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

"Is it true?" Miranda asked when Crystal joined her at the sinks.

Crystal sighed and leaned against the sink. "Is what true?" She asked back.

Miranda chuckled. "Is Robbins throwing you a house warming party, at _your_ house?" Crystal sighed again as she started to wash her hands. "Apparently it is true." Miranda smiled.

"I've had a full day of surgeries and she just bopped right in here and _told _me what she was doing. There was no _asking_." Crystal explained. Her body was ready to shut down and all she wanted to do was go to her new home and sleep in her large and super comfy bed. Not deal with a bunch of people from the hospital that she barely knew.

Miranda was quiet for a moment as she finished scrubbing her hands. "You know, Gibbons, she's just trying to make you feel welcomed."

"I know, I know." Crystal nodded her head slowly. She leaned against the wall near the door. "I just don't like being forced to talk to a lot of people at once." That much wasn't news to Miranda.

"What do you need?"

"Excuse me?"

"For your house? Do you need a new toaster, an ironing board…what do you need?"

Crystal thought for a few moments. "Alcohol. Lots of it." She told Miranda before disappearing out the door.


	7. Hangovers

**Hangovers**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

"It's too early for this." Alex grumbled.

"It's _never_ too early for surgery. What type of surgeon are you?" Crystal asked shaking her head lightly. She checked the clock near the door. "It's noon." She peered over the edge of glasses at him.

Alex turned to look at the surgeon. "No. You can't be one of those people who can drink all night and wake up without a hangover. No." He said shaking his head but regretting the movement instantly. "Noon is too early." Alex argued with little energy.

Crystal laughed. "Oh no, I'm not one of those people. Believe me, I'm regretting the last three rounds last night." She tied back her mask and reached for a scrubbing set. "If you're complaining about a hangover _you_ brought on yourself at noon, it's a good thing you're just here to observe."

Alex watched Crystal carefully for a couple of minutes before he spoke again. "So, are we going to talk about last night?" He asked. His arms were crossed in front of him and he tried to look menacing but he just looked tired.

"What do you want to talk about? I thought we covered it all last night when we were drinking." Crystal mused as she toweled her hands off.

He let his arms fall to his sides. "Are you serious right now?"

"What?" Crystal asked shrugging her shoulders.

"You're not going to explain to me why you fled New Orleans?" He asked throwing his hands in the air.

Crystal took a deep breath. "I told you that last night. We broke off the engagement." She replied simply. "Now, are you done with hangover talk? I have a heart to fix."


	8. I'll Be Fine

**I'll Be Fine**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

The scrub room was unusually very crowded with surgeons and interns when Owen arrived. There was a lot of talking and it appeared that interns were trying to get in on the 'must scrub in' surgery of the day.

"Unless you're scrubbing in, get out!" Owen directed. He held the door open and watched as a handful of people exited the room.

"Thank you." Crystal sighed when things calmed down.

Owen pulled Crystal to the side away from where she was waiting to scrub in behind the other surgeons. "I meant to tell you earlier that I was approving of your time off later this week. Are you sure three days will be long enough to take of everything?" He asked.

Crystal let her head hang back and looked up at the ceiling. "If I could get it all done within 24 hours you bet I would." She said brining her face to look at him. He searched her face for any sign of happiness about her upcoming trip to New Orleans but didn't find one.

"Do you want someone to go with you?" Owen lowered his voice. "You seem to hit it off with Meredith." He suggested. Crystal shook her head.

"No. I'll be fine. Besides, she has two kids and a husband." Crystal wasn't about to let anyone with a life step into her messy life she was leaving behind in New Orleans for good.

Owen pressed farther. "What about Alex? You two seem to have hit off pretty good." He didn't know why his newest surgeon had left her previous job and life for Seattle and he wasn't going to pry. All Owen could tell was that she wasn't looking forward to the three days in New Orleans.

"Owen. I am not letting anyone go with me. I'll be fine." She repeated, again. "Besides, my brother is swinging by to help me. I won't be alone." It was partially true.

The room was emptying out even more now as people took their places to begin the surgery. "Hey, Gibbons, are you coming?" Jackson asked.

"Don't worry, Owen. I'm a big girl, I can handle the Big Easy all right." She smiled before turning to the sink.


	9. Never Late

**Never Late**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy

"Where is she?" Meredith asked.

"She's never late." Jackson commented.

"Her plane arrived ten hours ago." Richard stated.

"I called her ten times and left messages. I texted her, I don't know how many times, and she never responded." Alex said shaking his head in frustration. The four attendings were waiting for Crystal to show up because they had yet to see her since she left for New Orleans almost four days prior. Not to mention she was supposed to be operating within the hour.

The door opened and the four surgeons snapped around to see who it was. "Damn it!" Alex exclaimed when he saw Owen.

"Is she still not here, yet?" Owen asked as Jackson started to pace a small section of the scrub room.

Meredith spoke next. "Oh god. What if her plane crashed at the terminal?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Alex said shaking his head.

"Bad stuff happens to us. Bad stuff happens to our people, Alex! She's our people, especially yours!" Meredith exclaimed.

Richard was next. "It's doubtful Meredith. We would have heard about something like that. Mass injuries would have come into the pit." He paused for a moment. "Come on people, maybe she over slept." It was a valid idea, if it were anyone but Crystal and even Richard didn't believe his idea.

"She's never late." Jackson said for the fourth time that afternoon.

"Her car skidded off the road. She's in the ditch somewhere." Meredith decided.

Owen was quick to dismiss. "She doesn't have a car here." He looked between the four of his surgeons and took a deep breath. "If she's not here in ten minutes I'm calling in someone else to do her surgery." He decided.

Two pagers went off and immediately everyone reached for their own at the same time. "Damn." Was all that was said from Owen before he and Richard left the others.

"She's never late." Jackson said again after looking at the clock.

"We know!" Meredith and Alex yelled at him.

A few moments later the door opened again and the three of them snapped their attention to see who it was. In through the door was none other than the woman they were waiting for. "It's about freaking time you showed up!" Alex yelled at her.


	10. Not Now

**Not Now**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Grey's Anatomy

The life Crystal was leaving behind in New Orleans was much different than the life she was getting used to in Seattle. In New Orleans, her fellow surgeons would have never been waiting for her return. In Seattle, the people she worked with actually showed that they cared, most of the time at least.

"Thank god you're not lying in a ditch some where nearly dead!" Meredith sighed as she hugged Crystal tightly. Awkwardly Crystal patted Meredith's back until she was released.

Before she could take a few more steps into the room, Crystal was confronted again. "Where the hell have you been? You're never late!" Jackson raged as he advanced toward her to give her a bear hug.

Crystal stood back away from her three friends and fellow surgeons. "What the hell? I'm gone for three days and I come back to find you all a mess." She joked, trying to ignore the fact that she was really late considering how early she normally was and that she hadn't returned anyone's calls or messages. It was only just then that it hit her that they were actually _really_ worried about where she had been.

The reason for her delay in arrival at the hospital though was something that she didn't want to talk about.

"You went MIA!" Alex yelled. He was still yelling, yes. Probably because one of his best friends had been missing for the majority of the day and he was trying to hide the fact that he was actually really worried about her.

Slowly Crystal raised her hands up signaling for the three of them to be quiet. She hated loudness in the scrub room, it made her thoughts run together and that was never a good thing, especially right before operating. "Listen. I had some issues at the airport down south. I had to take a different flight and then a connection into Seattle. It's okay." She told them with her best 'everything will be okay' smile.

The three looked at her, each with varying degrees of suspicion and after a few moments their silence was interrupted by an OR nurse entering. "Dr. Gibbons, are you ready? We're bringing Sarah White down now."

Crystal turned to face the nurse before she grabbed a surgical mask and started to tie it back. "Yes. I'll be ready in a moment." She confirmed.

Turning back to the three after the nurse left Crystal took a deep breath. "Not now, guys. Later. I have a heart to fix, you know."


End file.
